1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the movement of spools in textile machines for preparation of yarns, and in particular to a device and a method for loading the spools onto an individual, mobile support plates, for transport and positioning of the spools during processing.
2. Discussion of Background
In the known art, substantial preference has been given to moving the spools and tubes in the operations of production, control and packaging of the yarn, starting from textile fiber roving, using support plates, to be placed on conveyor belts or similar movement units used by the machine, in order to convey the spools and tubes individually to and from the work stations, at which spinning and spooling in particular are carried out.
In general, the support plates are provided with a vertical central pin, which makes it possible to keep the spools in an erect position, not only during transport, but also during the steps of preparation and winding, virtually without touching the spools, and with handling only of the support plates, without the support plates needing to touch, and slide into contact with, the machine, and therefore become dirty or damaged.
A problem which is associated with the use of support plates according to the known art, arises during the step of winding the spools in the spooler. In fact, account must be taken of the fact that in spoolers of the most recent design, the winding speeds are very high. This therefore generates stresses, which tend to displace the spool, or even pull the spool off of the pin of the support plate, on which it is simply supported as it is wound.
In order to eliminate these disadvantages, more elaborate support plate structures have been proposed, in which the support plate is provided with resilient means for retention of the spool, as well as with conical raiser fins for centering of the latter, for example in patents DE-A-4,236,038, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,297,761 in the name of Schlafhorst, and in the Italian patent application MI96A125 and European patent application EP-A-844,206, in the name of the same applicant.
These technical solutions consist of fitting the tube of the spool on the support plate, centering the spool, and overcoming specific resistance by the resilient retention means. This problem is significant, particularly if account is taken of the fact that the rate of supply of the spools to the spooler is very fast, particularly during the steps of starting up, or a change of processing. The time allowed for loading a spool onto its support plate, and for starting the processing, is approximately one second or slightly more.